Debris from Hurricane Ike poses threat to boaters

What lies beneathThat mountain of stuff washed off the Bolivar Peninsula during Hurricane Ike poses a very real threat to boaters

Published 5:30 am, Thursday, March 12, 2009

Photo: Shannon Tompkins, Houston Chronicle

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While much debris from Hurricane Ike washed ashore, an untold amount sank or remains partially submerged in Galveston Bay, creating dangerous situations for boaters, who can strike the hard-to-see obstructions.

While much debris from Hurricane Ike washed ashore, an untold amount sank or remains partially submerged in Galveston Bay, creating dangerous situations for boaters, who can strike the hard-to-see obstructions.

Photo: Shannon Tompkins, Houston Chronicle

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A sign at a boat ramp on the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge on East Galveston bay advises boaters to watch carefully for floating and submerged debris.

A sign at a boat ramp on the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge on East Galveston bay advises boaters to watch carefully for floating and submerged debris.

Debris from Hurricane Ike poses threat to boaters

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Port Bolivar-based fishing guide Jim West has spent thousands of days roaming East Galveston Bay over the past quarter-century-plus, poking his boat’s bows into every nook, cove, bayou, drain and stretch of shoreline of the bay on which he lives and works. Few know the eastern lobe of the Galveston Bay system more intimately or feel more comfortable scooting across its surface.

But these days, West pays very close attention when he’s running his boat in many parts of the bay.

“You have to watch it — especially when you’re running fairly shallow or on low tides,” West said. “There is a lot of stuff out there you don’t want to hit.”

That “stuff” is debris Hurricane Ike swept into the bay almost six months ago. There is a lot of it, and it poses a substantial hazard to boaters.

When the hurricane’s winds and storm surge swept over Bolivar Peninsula, they crushed, crumbled, uprooted and carried away much of what was on the spit of land separating the Gulf of Mexico from East Bay, shoving a mountain of debris into the bay.

Much of that debris floated and ended up far inland, left in massive wrack lines in the marshes and prairie north of the bay. But the things that didn’t float are submerged or semi-submerged in East Bay and adjacent Trinity Bay.

Much of that debris floated and ended up far inland, left in massive wrack lines in the marshes and prairie north of the bay. But the things that didn’t float are submerged or semi-submerged in East Bay and adjacent Trinity Bay.

“There’s everything you can imagine out there,” West said. “Cars, trailers, golf carts — you name it. And there’s telephone poles everywhere out there — that’s some of the most dangerous.

“Some of it you can see. A lot of it you can’t ... until you hit it.”

A boat slamming its hull into a solid object such as a semi-submerged utility pole or hitting a submerged trailer, truck or clothes drier with the outboard’s lower unit is, at best, economically costly. At worst, such collisions can result in serious physical injuries or fatalities as boaters are thrown from vessels or violently hurled about the boat.

A few such incidents — none fatal, so far — have occurred. But the odds of boaters colliding with hurricane debris threaten to increase over coming weeks.

A few such incidents — none fatal, so far — have occurred. But the odds of boaters colliding with hurricane debris threaten to increase over coming weeks.

Recreational boating traffic in most of Galveston Bay, particularly East Bay, has been much lighter than normal since the hurricane.

In the weeks after the storm, most marinas and boat ramps on the bay were unusable, and the hurricane left many area boaters with more pressing issues with which to deal than spending a day chasing fish. Then came the usual winter slowdown in fishing and boating.

But as March wears on and spring takes hold, boating and fishing traffic will increase.

“I’ve heard of a few (incidents of boats colliding with hurricane debris),” West said. “But there’s hardly been anybody fishing. When it starts getting warm and people start fishing more, that’s when you’ll see a problem.”

The threat of boaters colliding with hurricane debris will be lessening over coming months as the state government works to remove the debris from Galveston Bay.

The Texas General Land Office (GLO) is close to beginning a clean-up of hurricane debris littering the bottom of Galveston Bay. But that massive effort will take months to accomplish.

The bay bottom is state-owned submerged land and falls under the authority and responsibility of the GLO. And since the hurricane, the agency has been working to locate, identify and remove debris from the bays and near-shore Gulf.

For the past several months, GLO contractors have been meticulously surveying the whole of Galveston Bay, using side-scan SONAR to locate debris, said GLO spokesperson Jim Suydam.

As of last week, about 85 percent of the bay system had been surveyed and debris locations logged using precise GPS technology. The remaining 15 percent to be surveyed are portions of East Galveston Bay and Trinity Bay, the bays with the most debris.

The surveys may be completed within the next couple of weeks, weather permitting, Suydam said. Calm conditions are necessary for the SONAR, which can show items as small as 18 inches in height, to be used effectively.

The surveys may be completed within the next couple of weeks, weather permitting, Suydam said. Calm conditions are necessary for the SONAR, which can show items as small as 18 inches in height, to be used effectively.

“They need flat water,” he said. “And they can’t work at night — the debris makes it too dangerous.”

So far, surveyors have located and marked the location of about 1,000 “targets” on the bay bottom, Suydam said.

Once the survey is completed and any “targets” suspected of being old shipwrecks or other items of historical significance are reviewed and cleared by state archeologists, the actual clean-up can begin.

That clean-up can’t be accomplished quickly; the logistics of carefully removing more than 1,000 pieces of debris are daunting.

That clean-up can’t be accomplished quickly; the logistics of carefully removing more than 1,000 pieces of debris are daunting.

“We’re looking at many months of work,” Suydam said. “But when it’s finished, we’d like to hope we’ll have the bay in better shape than before Ike.”

Until then, anglers and other boaters traveling the bay system — particularly East Galveston Bay and Trinity Bay — should be particularly cautious.

The eastern half of East Galveston Bay is especially hazardous, West noted.

“The bay on the back side of Gilchrist and Rollover Pass have a lot of debris,” West said. “And the north shoreline (of East Bay) is pretty bad, too.

“The deep water in the middle of the bay seems to be OK. But I’d tell people to be real careful if you’re running shallow on either side of the bay. And low-tide days are the worst; I wouldn’t try running a deep-V hull along the shorelines any time.”

“The deep water in the middle of the bay seems to be OK. But I’d tell people to be real careful if you’re running shallow on either side of the bay. And low-tide days are the worst; I wouldn’t try running a deep-V hull along the shorelines any time.”